Amdirlain''s PoV - Culerzic - Ashen Plains
"I''ll assume you learnt the location of Zozzuth," smiled Silpar.
Amdirlain smiled ruefully. "Psionic techniques work well with the evolution of Advanced Telepathy and my Willpower. Perhaps too well. I''ve not stretched the Power for a while. I''ve got a broad range of powers and skills that I''ve let languish because the combinations between them provide solutions."
"Instead of becoming a Grandmaster in a few things, you''ve used a broad range of abilities to support your endeavours," observed Silpar. "While it isn''t a bad approach while young, it leaves you vulnerable when you need that greater capability in a time of dire need."
"When I''ve got more time, I''ll seek more training. I''m hoping my faking spells worked," said Amdirlain.
"You left impressions of multiple spells in True Sight. The flurry of spells we tossed about should provide enough confusion that any slip will go unnoticed before the impression fades," said Silpar.
"Zozzuth''s fortress is in the middle of a city that spans two valleys. They’re each nearly a hundred kilometres across, so I''ll have to enter the city to get close enough to hear Zozzuth''s song," advised Amdirlain.
Silpar grimaced. "I''ve never gone into a demonic city."
"I''ve spent more time in them than I cared for myself," replied Amdirlain. "I''m hard to trace because of my state, so Rahka is unlikely to find me if you''d prefer to return to the fortress. We can meet again in another location when I''m done."
"You''d go in alone?" questioned Silpar.
Amdirlain shrugged. "It won''t be for the first time that I''ve disguised myself as a Demon. Since Zozzuth should know more about Moloch''s other demon lords, I hope to avoid going from town to town again."
"I said I''d accompany you until you can take care of yourself without worrying about Rahka," said Silpar.
"You offered that before you knew all my plans," said Amdirlain. "I''ll not hold you to it or put you in danger."
"Danger isn''t the concern," reassured Silpar. "I simply find demonic pastimes unpleasant to be around."
"Yet slipping inside quietly isn''t easier if it''s two of us instead of one," said Amdirlain. “You don’t have to come along.”
"What details did you get from him?"
"Enough images and impressions that I''ll be able to navigate the city without an issue. It should be a pretty straightforward trip," replied Amdirlain.
Silpar still looked uncertain, and Amdirlain continued. “After I deal with Zozzuth, I''ll contact you before I return to the cloister. Hopefully, they''ve found useful texts on the deeper planes by then.”
Silpar''s mouth tightened. "What demonic species was he?"
"A Fraz-gòn, one of Moloch''s failures through the Transformation Site. Immediately became a Demon Lord instead of transforming into a stronger demonic species," explained Amdirlain.
"The furred Gargoyle-looking demons?" enquired Silpar.
Amdirlain nodded.
"They''ve got a reputation as durable combatants," cautioned Silpar. "If you run into any trouble, I suggest you retreat. The more populace in a city, the greater the chance powerful demons are looking for entertainment to combat their boredom."
"I''ll keep an ear on the music around me and avoid the areas with stronger demons until I reach the fortress," agreed Amdirlain, and she rechecked his Analysis. “He is physically stronger than Te, but his weapon skills show only to Grandmaster, and I’ll look to destroy his weapons first.”
[Name: Zozzuth
Species: Demon Lord (unique)
Class: Abyssal Commander / Flame Blade / Bulwark Knight / Elementalist
Level: 17 / 42 / 42 / 42 / 42
Health: 821,860
Defence: 3,260
Magic: 767
Mana: 824,115
Melee Attack Power: 3,429
Combat Skills: Body Weaponry [SM] (125), Axe [GM] (412); Various affinities and spell lists.
Immunities: Mundane Materials, Fire, Cold, Acid, Poison.
Details: A native of Jinamizi, he worked his way up through various armies and had command of a legion before being recruited by Moloch. He was given the opportunity for advancement after ten thousand years of service but couldn''t remain in the Transformation Site long enough to overcome his racial limits.
Moloch relegated him to running a region to supply materials for manufacturing weapons and armour for his mercenaries. After millennia of seeing other demon lords profit from making the equipment, he finally got a foothold after hiring a band of grey dwarves to teach some of his demons to craft. Though there were some fatalities on both sides, Zozzuth ended up with a core of demonic crafters that eventually expanded his operations by turning out masterclass weaponry and armour.]
No Mantle to boost him? Te could take him on.
[Flame Blade
Details: This Tier 4 Prestige Class combines Fighter and Wizard and is accessible from level 60 onwards. While not up to the standard of Spellblade or other variants of that Class, it provides frontline magical combat options for a being with limited affinities.]
[Bulwark Knight
Details: This evolved base Class focuses on withstanding damage from its use of armour and the high health boost it provides for each level.]
Amdirlain appeared on a ridgeline distant from the city''s outer zones and took in the areas high on the valley''s slope. The grey buildings were nearly all made from locally quarried stone with any variation in the style or materials used being a rare exception. Unlike the haphazard structures in other cities, the city''s master prized function and everything was driven towards manufacturing and moving goods about. With it a constant theme throughout the city, Amdirlain assumed the Demon Lord Zozzuth''s authority held it that way. It was only in the back alleys and cluttered laneways any idle demons lingered.
Though there were nearly thirty kilometres of manufacturing plants billowing smoke into the air and warehouses outside the city''s wall, they maintained a clear kill zone between the buildings and the wall along the valley''s rim. The city’s interior buildings were more diverse, but they’d still laid the streets out for the ease of transport wagons. Thousands of them swarmed along the city''s roads loaded high with ore or crates of finished goods, and the drivers were quick to attack anything that got in their way. Rather than the usual melting pot of other abyssal cities, most demons within the city were of the Fraz-gòn species.
Tossing around options for a disguise, Amdirlain focused on the red-and-black scaled Sk?ll form she''d used previously, only for nothing to happen. Concerned, she teleported back to the plains and tried again, but it still didn''t work. Multiple attempts with other demonic forms failed. Though when various types of Elf, Catfolk and her True form all worked fine, concern turned to confusion, and she checked the details on the Phoenix’s Immolation and Phoenix''s Rapture powers.
A line from the initial power caught her attention, and the second power merely referred to the first for shapeshifting limits.
This Power reduces the being’s shapeshifting capability to True Form and living species with static forms.
Living species. Technically, demons aren''t alive; they''re planar entities.
An attempt to take on the form Silpar had used turned her into the same tailless Lizardfolk without an issue, and she added a song to provide a false demonic heat. Given Moloch''s attitude towards females, Amdirlain kept to a male form and stripped the concealments from her auras. As Lady of Butchery and Angel Killer stretched out, she teleported close to the road leading up the valley''s slope towards the wall on the ridgeline.
Nearby demons glanced her way, and while some swallowed nervously, many seemed envious or intrigued. Rising into the air, Amdirlain flew above the road until it approached the kill zone before the walls. She landed beside a cargo wagon drawn by the abyssal-scaled oxen she had first seen on Hrz’Styrn towing cargos of the damned dragged from The River of the Drowned. Like many wagoneers, the Fraz-gòn handled chains that led to spiked bits in the strange beasts'' mouths.
Ignoring its looks of surprise, Amdirlain stomped forward and passed wagons in the slow procession. As she crossed the gap, she focused on the relaxed guards stationed atop the walls and gates. Though there were other demons, such as the goat-headed Schir, the Fraz-gòn made up eight of ten nearby guards. Those she checked had between mid-twenties and thirty levels in two classes, few had a third, and all were imports from the Jinamizi Plane.
The wards along the soot-stained walls looked for the same collection of factions sought in other places. It didn''t stop anyone from teleporting out but suppressed Mana used in the city by anyone without a wardstone. Beyond the city wall, she could sense thousands of airborne demons while more jumped about using various dimensional spells and powers.
As her auras touched the nearest Fraz-gòn guard, he looked her way and thumped a taloned hand to his black-furred chest. "Might I help you, Great One?"
"I''ve come seeking to buy weaponry for troops," said Amdirlain. "Who sells the best in the city?"
"Lord Zozzuth''s command restricts those, and you’ll need his permission to buy them."
Amdirlain''s eye ridges lowered in a scowl. "Does your Lord receive petitioners?"
The guard shrugged helplessly. "You''d have to speak to his dreadness'' adviser."
"Let me guess, I''ll have to speak to someone else to speak to them?" asked Amdirlain, and waved off the guard before he could respond. "Do I start that game at the fortress or somewhere else?"
"The guards at the fortress would be the ones to advise you," confirmed the guard.
"And I can approach the gatehouse there without me having to disembowel someone so they scream out my name to give advance notice?" asked Amdirlain, and she looked him up and down and let her fangs show as if considering him for the role. Her Charisma stirred to inspire fear and self-preservation within the Demon.
The guard''s ears lay back along his skull. "There is a smaller gate where visitors go. The guards there can tell you more. The fortress is up on the middle ridgeline."
"Fine. Step out of my way," growled Amdirlain.
Thumping his chest again, the Fraz-gòn guard hurried to escape Amdirlain''s path.
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
She was ten metres through the wall''s gatehouse when she heard a whisper behind her.
"You didn''t charge him the gate fee," noted another guard.
The guard she''d spoken to scoffed. "I''d like to see you having the nerve to do that, loudmouth. I bet he''d have gutted you the same way he did the Angel whose death glorifies his presence. Have you never met an Angel Killer before?"
"No," grumbled the other guard. "And you have?”
The first guard groaned in pleasure. "Twice now, but I didn’t know what it was the first time. That aura of exquisite pain and bloodshed he carries with him, I want that."
Satisfied she''d made the right impression, Amdirlain kept walking and fixed her gaze on the city Resonance had painted for her once clear of the gatehouse''s inner gates. More blocky buildings stretched everywhere, the factories covering the flat grey monochrome stonework in soot and chemical stains. Wide roads provided plenty of space for wagons to travel, and she saw only a few shops along the main road ahead of her. Instead, across the wide valley that could swallow Greater Sydney, were countless rows of manufacturing plants. Only the details she''d ripped from Salgan''s mind before she killed the Balor gave her immediate confidence about which route to take.
I''ll refine the songs I put in that toy I left for Naamah and see if I can track him after I get close enough to hear Zozzuth''s song.
Despite the thick black smoke clogging the air, Amdirlain joined the other flyers above the city and traced Salgan''s route on his first trip to the fortress. Cutting across the city, she had to practice patience when Salgan''s journey seemed shorter than her own, unsure if it was her airspeed or a trick of memory.
Eventually, she crossed over a heavily polluted river that gave her a reference to determine it was her speed that was the problem. The Balor''s millennia of airborne experience made that concern easy to set aside, but it was another reminder of her need to improve. That was a concern for another time, when her attention wasn’t on other matters. Along her path she caused hundreds of Mortal slaves to disappear to her medical facilities, and a few demonologists suffered fatal rejections of the demonic organs they spliced into themselves.
When the fortress came into Resonance range, Amdirlain considered the massive walls and the wards that crawled over them. Contained within its wards were protections to stop everything from pests and catapults to heavy-duty magics. It seemed odd at first that there wasn''t anything to prevent shapeshifting with so many demons possessing that ability, but considering the uses that succubi put that Power to, it made more sense.
The mammoth size of the fortress''s multi-spired structure required Amdirlain to land almost at the edge of its kilometre-wide cleared perimeter to cover it all with Resonance. The fortress''s interior was more expansive than the outside, but with the dimensional spaces entirely within Resonance, she found she could hear their contents. From within the structure’s music, the mortals she had detected vanished. The wards that prevented arcane teleporting couldn''t stop her from shifting them to freedom. More songs followed them across the planes; the first for each removed sigils and healed branded flesh, a second then bounced them from their original stop in Limbo to the demi-plane to prevent them from being easily traced. Each received the same mental reassurance as they arrived in their clean quarantine room, and suitable food appeared on a low table.
''I''ll have you somewhere safe soon after I ensure your health. My apologies for the delay.''
Amdirlain took in Zozzuth''s cruel and prideful song, and a smile twisted her reptilian features. High above the fortress, thousands of the energy lenses she''d used to obliterate the Cliffs of Lust took minutes, rather than the hours required previously, to form. A staggered disintegration of thousands of cubic kilometres of rock beneath the fortress dropped it and fractured the wards. While the energy lenses started to gather energy to redirect, Amdirlain teleported back to the ashen plains and activated a barrier.
With it in place and additional songs held ready, Amdirlain teleported Zozzuth to her. Unlike his demonic kin, the Demon Lord had a furless, fire-blackened body with veins of lava glowing beneath his skin, and his parted fangs showed flames within his maw. At nearly five metres tall, and massing three times that of the named Balor Salgan, he was a gigantic figure compared to her one hundred and ninety centimetres. He was clad in deep blue wyvern-hide pants secured by a wide belt, a set of black adamantine bracers of protection around his wrists, and wore rings and other magical toys.
The confused Demon Lord speared a taloned hand towards her that caught only air. Faster than he could manage, Amdirlain had leaned to one side of the strike that had blurred towards her face. Zozzuth threw himself forward, and Amdirlain slipped low and smashed a turning kick into his ankle with wall-shattering force. The blow turned his lunge into a stumble, and rather than fight it, Zozzuth rolled forward. As he rose to face her, a hand slapped fruitlessly at the harness to his side. Damaged by one of her songs, the dimensional sheath didn''t eject the long axe he was expecting into his hand, but instead fell apart at his grasp.
No axe. No Grandmaster attacks are coming from you, and I’ve crippled your attack power.
In the distance, beneath the burning sky, a pitch-black beam drove into the hills. At its touch, the Plane rang like a stadium-sized gong smashed by an angry Primordial. As the ground jumped under his feet, surprise again caught at Zozzuth, but this time, he stumbled and fell while Amdirlain merely rode the wave with a flexing of her knees. Content to ride out the Plane’s reaction, she remained facing Zozzuth with her hands at the ready and began other preparations.
Her Ki State activated with Yang Mana drawn beneath her skin, and red flames churned through a feathery pattern that blazed under her scaled form. In response, an inferno erupted around her from Zozzuth, and the brilliant flames hid him from sight as claws lashed out. With a song that spoke of might being concentrated into physical strength, Amdirlain danced around him. For each blow that tore at the air or bounced from her willpower-hardened flesh, two claw strikes sliced open his skin and rent organs and bone across his abdomen and legs. Yang flames dug into his flesh and ran down his Oath Link to Moloch, and her thoughts carried a count of the blows. Her senses showed the wounds leaking burning blood before the flames of Zozzuth''s spells faded.
He whirled to face her and finally snarled in pain and rage. The act was a mask as he tried to cast another Spell and Teleport away. Yet his Message Spell shattered on the unseen barrier, and his attempt to Teleport was smashed apart the same way. The feedback from the failed Teleport had him back up a step, and Amdirlain used the opening. Her Charisma expanded with gentle precision and inspired the kernel of fear and doubt within the surprised Demon Lord to grow. That surge of caution and fear had him stepping back again, and his strategic thoughts finally came to the fore. Yet before he could move on any of them, his situation worsened.
The enchanted bracers around his wrists crumpled into dust before the rings and his thick belt with hundreds of dimensional pockets followed. Zozzuth backed up further. Under the pressure of her Charisma, the surge of fear grew towards panic.
"Toys," rasped Amdirlain.
Zozzuth opened his mouth to reply, and Amdirlain appeared behind him. Moving with his desperate turn, her claws ripped open his hamstrings, and more Yang flames travelled down Moloch''s Oath Link before she returned to where she''d been. His legs crippled, Zozzuth''s strength proved useless and he sprawled to the ground. Zozzuth''s claws dug effortlessly into the rocky ground, and he tried to straighten his legs. The raw wounds bled molten demonic blood and didn''t heal how he expected his regeneration to handle them—the Eastern Heaven''s flames were as deadly to his demonic flesh as Celestial wrath.
"I surrender," said Zozzuth, pushing himself up to a kneeling position. He held one hand out from his side and leaned the other way so the other arm could support his balance.
Amdirlain appeared beside the grounded hand, and a primordial blade severed his forearm as she spun towards his rear. Her blades disappeared again amid her dancing steps. Molten blood gushed across the barren plain, and Amdirlain''s spin took her across his crippled legs. Thrashing about to follow her, Zozzuth toppled to one side. Death Strike highlighted more vulnerable spots to her, and Amdirlain''s claws opened deep wounds across his back without a break in her stride.
Amdirlain had expected their location to be scried at any moment, and with every empowered strike, the certainty grew. Though Precognition didn''t so much tickle a warning, Amdirlain chose caution, and her aura erupted around her. Massively overpowered by the magical forces at her command, Zozzuth''s body started to burn before a spinning kick decapitated him.
[Combat Summary:
Demons by tier:
Least x 3,478
Lesser x 19,828
Standard x 1,239
Greater x17
Demon Lord x 1
Total Experience gained: 65,836,172
Ostim?: +32,918,086
Ont?lin: +32,918,086]
His song disappeared across the planes, and she caught a harmonic piece indicating a familiar Plane. Plane Shift set her near a trade camp, and she stepped across its marker points. The black tents were unchanged since she''d last been there to meet Ebusuku. Then, Ebusuku had been a Succubus and Amdirlain a fresh Fallen, but her perspective was quite different now. Then, it had been a place of unknown danger, but now she could hear all the relatively weak and exceedingly corrupt songs within.
However, the trade hub wasn''t her concern, and she scried for Zozzuth''s song. She waited until he’d reformed and arrived in a lavishly appointed chamber, where he started to absorb Mana from his surroundings. Quickly scrying the location from above, she found it was beneath a ruin and teleported closer. Taking in the hide-out''s defences, she set restrictive barriers beyond his wards to prevent him from teleporting, sending messages, or even being able to open the doors.
"Hello, Zozzuth," purred Amdirlain, and she projected her voice into the Demon Lord''s ear without the reptilian rasp of her physical form.
Zozzuth leapt up from his chair. His gaze jumped across the shadows among the gem-encrusted furnishing about him. "Who is there?"
"You weren''t expecting anyone to find your bolt hole, I take it?"
"What is it you want?"
"I planned to have you deliver a message to Moloch for me, but you''re stuck here. Are any of your home planes Culerzic?" asked Amdirlain.
Amdirlain caught the rest of them from his thoughts but avoided being detected.
"Yes," snapped Zozzuth.
"Liar," laughed Amdirlain.
Zozzuth tried to Teleport away, but his capability with magic again failed to overwhelm hers, and the barriers she’d set held him in place.
"I can get Moloch a message for you," offered Zozzuth as he took in the backlash.
"I''ll tell you in a couple more home planes," replied Amdirlain, and a Celestial-based inferno erupted around his recovering body, and fine ashes dropped to the ground. Again, she heard his song disappear across the planes. This time, the theme wasn''t for a Plane she''d visited since regaining True Song, and she didn''t intend to risk a blind Planar Shift. However, she sent a rush of music after his theme to seal his body from absorbing Mana and apply a dimensional lock to stop him from shifting between his home planes.
[Combat Summary:
Demon Lord x1
Total Experience gained: 856,260
Ostim?: +428,130
Ont?lin: +428,130]
She winced when Analysis of the planar theme provided her with the details and brushed aside the combat summary.
Great, Naamah''s hometown.
[The Hunting Grounds
Details: Despite Naamah''s prolonged absence, this Plane remains loyal to her as its ruler. The many demon ladies descended from the abyssal Succubus primogen have worked to keep the Plane in check for her eventual return. ]
Analysis giving me a translation from its abyssal name now.
Plane Shift took her to the first layer of the Abyss, the Plane of Portals. She scried for the Portal containing The Hunting Grounds'' theme among the barren, pit-filled landscape. Teleport set her at the Portal''s event horizon, and she could dimly make out a cavern sealed by a basalt gate at the far end, a company of ebony-skinned Succubi guarding it. The guards mostly carried enchanted bows and swords, though a dozen had long spears with broad points and cross pieces to prevent foes from pushing along their shafts. Their themes had classes in the sixties, the commander having the components of three Tier 5 Prestige classes mixed in with hers.
Amdirlain debated sending another song to obliterate Zozzuth, but needing to be on hand to hear his next destination held her back. Retaining the male Lizardfolk form, Amdirlain pulled in her Charisma and stepped through the Portal.
The obsidian pupils of the Named Succubus in charge of the guards fixed on her. "Reason for your visit."
"I''m hunting one of Moloch''s demon lords here," advised Amdirlain.
The guards smiled appreciatively at her words, the eagerness for battle showing in their gazes; their gleaming white smiles lit their eyes aflame with passion.
"Really? One of them is here?" laughed the commander.
"I''ve killed him on one of his Home Planes, and I''ve learnt this is another," explained Amdirlain.
The commander pursed her lips thoughtfully; the alluring expression brushed Charisma across Amdirlain ineffectively. "His name?"
Amdirlain frowned cautiously. "Why do you wish to know?"
"I''ll see if he has protected status," advised the Succubus, and she gave a relaxed shrug. "If he does, you''ll have to return the way you came unless you wish to fight a challenge to the protection. If he doesn''t have protection paid up, it''s good hunting."
The truth in her words rang true, and Amdirlain nodded. "His name is Zozzuth."
"Wait."
A Message Spell flicked away with Spatial Mana, and a few minutes later, a reply returned.
The Succubus gave a welcoming nod and waved Amdirlain towards the solid granite gates; with their business concluded, her voice became a sultry purr. "You''ve such a lovely vicious aura. Welcome. May you find pleasure in your hunt, and pleasure find you."
"Who would I have needed to challenge if he had been protected?" asked Amdirlain out of curiosity.
The commander touched the tips of her forked tongue against her top lip before she shrugged. "Depends on how much he paid. If you plan to take down more demon lords, we''ve currently several regiments available for hire, or assassins if you want them dealt with more quietly."
I wonder how much it would cost for them to kill Moloch once a century for a few millennia.
"I thought you''d have troops tied up destroying the sisterhood," stated Amdirlain.
Her eyes gleamed brightly. "They didn''t see us coming, even if we had to outrace the Aspect of War to kill them in their fortresses. With them no longer requiring our forces, we must source targets to keep entertained or test ourselves against our infernal cousins."
The commander signalled the basalt gate, and a side door large enough for an ordinary wagon to pass through opened.
"Enjoy your stay."
The purr in her voice brushed along Amdirlain''s skin and provided an uncomfortable reminder of Viper. Yet this Succubus’ demeanour contained more playfulness with a high degree of predatory hunger.